‘Autumn comes, so let us be glad / Singing an autumn tune / Hearts will be lighter, nights be brighter / Under the harvest moon.’
So goes the 16th-century folk song that celebrates the golden turning of the year. And this weekend at St James hearts certainly will be lighter and nights brighter as La Fete des Betes welcomes in the autumn equinox.
‘We had our first La Fete des Betes – the festival of beasts – at La Seigneurie in Sark back in 2021 and it was such a great event,’ said St James’ deputy director Greg Harrison. ‘So I’ve been trying to find a way to bring more traditional folk music back to Guernsey. There hasn’t been a great deal since Sark Folk Festival, which ended in 2019.’
Just this year St James has hosted Motown, indie, Britpop, Afro fusion, jazz, reggae, psyche, disco, hip-hop, rock ‘n’ roll, choral, orchestral and big band – not to mention comedy, theatre and hosting both the Guernsey Photography Festival and Guernsey Literary Festival. So a couple of nights of traditional folk are a welcome addition to the playlist.
‘I got in contact with Annie Bolt, who is from Guernsey and is the melodeon player and ceilidh caller in the Manchester band Chimera, and we talked about having a ceilidh here. We wanted to find another UK artist to headline, so we got in touch with We Are The Monsters, who played at Sark Folk Festival in 2016 as Monster Ceilidh Band. In fact, one of the members is from Jersey.
‘We wanted to try it out on a smaller scale and it’s great to have a connection with the other Channel Island.’
Opening up the weekend on Friday night are the home-grown sassy and satirical ‘queens of the music hall’ The Ukuladeez, before Chimera rings out the ceilidh for the rest of the evening.
Taking the stage on Saturday, Guernsey’s west coast answer to Eighteenth Day of May, The Space Pirates of Rocquaine, the masters of metalgrass Clameur de Haro and Celtic soul brothers The Button Pushers will kick things off before the headline act We Are The Monsters close the night world-class folk music.
‘And if you want to chill, downstairs in The Pit we have a more acoustic, singer/songwriter feel with Ernie Roscouet, The Basement Preachers, Ash Jarman, Kiya Ashton, Jon Shaban and Mick Le Huray,’ said Greg.
If this weekend is a success, Greg would like to see it interwoven with other events.
‘It would be great to have a whole weekend of different events happening in unison in different places – La Fete des Betes, the French Markets over from France, Fete d’Etai at Castle Cornet, Guernesiais language events – a celebration of our culture.’
In the meantime, get out your ceilidh shoes for the weekend’s upcoming delights.
‘It’s all about being together,’ said Greg. ‘Folk and traditional music – it’s a real shared experience.’
La Fete des Betes is at St James on Friday 26 at 7pm and Saturday 27 at 6pm. Tickets are available at stjames.gg or at the box office on 711361, or just turn up and pay on the door.
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